Wolf, BlueStar, and Capital were my top choices for rangetops. I ended up with Wolf and am quite happy. I can't imagine having or needing more power/heat than the 16K I have! The large caps, so that the flame has to come out around, worried me about the sealed burner Capital, and a very reputable and credible appliance store in our area decided not to take on the Capital Precision line after they had customers so unhappy with the Capital Performance line, and the support they received in answer to the problems. This is only on the word of that store, but I found them to be the most knowledgeable and helpful staff, overall, that I found in my search. I had to use something to help me decide, and, in contrast, I had only heard good about Wolf's customer service. The Precision line was just coming out, so there was no specific feedback on that one yet. Smarge's simmering problems sound exactly like the problems the salesman described with the former Capital ranges. Anyway, I can speak to one particular experience I had, in which I was quite thankful to have the open burner Wolf instead of the sealed burner Capital...I had a boilover of white clam sauce. It immediately burned on to anything at rangetop level, but most of it dripped through to the catch tray and didn't burn, so was easy to wipe up. For the burned on stuff, it was on the open burner's grate and under pans that I could easily take to the sink to soak and wash out. (As it turned out, the porcelain coating meant I didn't even have to scrub.) If I'd had the Capital, I think the whole mess would've been burned on right under the burner, and I'd have to sop up, scrub, and rinse the stainless surface right at the stove, which would've been difficult and taken much longer. I could have taken the grate to the sink, of course, but even that part would have been more difficult because of the grates being 2-burners wide instead of singular, like for the open-burner Wolf. I am making some assumptions, here, but based on enough fact that I think it would be the case. Who would have thought a boil-over would have made me happier with my rangetop choice? ;-) This is one example, and kind of an extreme one, but I am always glad I have the option to take the stove parts to the sink to clean them out, or to the trash bin to dump out crumbs, etc. I sometimes wonder if I would've liked the BlueStar better, because of the more open burner and because of the disappointment I've had in trying to keep the glossy black underpans of the Wolf looking clean. (the only negative about the Wolf I've experienced.) Like I said, I'm very happy with my rangetop's performance, though, and when the rubber feet burned off my grates, Wolf promptly sent me the new grates they make now (no more rubber feet to burn off). They also sent a whole new set of the black pans that sit under the burners, because they weren't quite sure the new grates would fit the ones I had. They did fit, but Wolf didn't want me to have to wait if I found out they didn't. I think Wolf offers a longer warranty than most and, in my experience, and for the people I know with Wolf, they really seem to want to stand behind their product. Sorry to write so much!

I too have a 48" Capital range that was just delivered last week. It is pretty much just sitting there in place. I did do a temporary connection but have no hood or countertops yet. Of course I don't have a sink either. Gas line needs to be moved slightly so that it can slide all the way back against the wall. Everything turns on and seems to work properly. Haven't been able to do any real cooking with it yet. Scrambled and fried a few eggs is about all. It looks fantastic and so far everyone who has seen it has been impressed. Granite guy was here measuring today and walked in and just stared and said wow! It is the Precision but it is the model without the rotisserie or self clean. These were not features I necessarily needed or could justify the extra cost of (I do have a budget). Have a good bbq already with a rotisserie and living in California don't have alot of weather issues that keep me from using them. Obviously I have not had any service issues as of yet and hopefully I won't. The Thermador was also very nice and we have a good friend who has one and really likes it. Their somewhat of an imitation of the bluestar burner is nice. One of the advantages I personally like about the Capital is that all the burners have the same capabilities (19,000 BTU or 140 simmer). Just fits my cooking style a little better. I did compare the simmer of the Capital to the friends Thermador and they seem to be fairly comparable. The Capital does not cycle like the Thermador which I personally like. That would not necessarily make or break the deal for me I just prefer it. Major factor in my decision, which does not apply in your case, is that it is all gas. I wanted double ovens and was limited to an all gas application which narrows the choices quite a bit. Since you only need a rangetop you don't have such a dilmna.

You are not really stuck, you do not have to buy either of these. Neither has a good reputation. Why restrict yourself to this choice? You would be better off saving for a number of months more and getting exactly what you want and continuing to look for it on sale elsewhere. Also there are quite a number of both ranges for sale used on craigslist. When a high-end appliance consistently shows up for sale on craigslist it's a hint (also they are in the same price range as you are contemplating paying, except that the sellers on craigslist are more likely to be willing to bargain...something to keep in mind as you may be that seller in a year). That being said, if you elect to go with Sears be sure and take photos of the stove before it is transported. About two years ago I purchased a stove from Sears outlet, I took pictures of it in the showroom and then went home and waited for it to be delivered. I was so excited. When they delivered it, it was clear that when they put it on the back of the truck they had made no effort to wrap it up or keep it tied down. It was banged to hell, paint chips, gouges, scratches, you name it it went from one small scratch on the bottom drawer when it left their showroom to absolutely trashed. I rejected the delivery, The delivery guy started to fight me about that but I showed him the photos on my phone and that really intimidated him, it still took five months to get my money back; don't open a Sears credit card for the extra discount. I could not in good conscience do business with them again, which is really sad because my childhood dreams were made of the Sears catalog...my local appliance store is smarter about things like that, they would deliver a completely intact range, but they don't have the best reputation for repairs-they get the repairs done correctly but it reportedly can take weeks for a service call. You need to look into who will be doing the repairs.

Trevor - I'm hoping you can help us determine if Capital has made any important updates to their ranges in the past 4 years. The reason for asking is that we just moved into a new custom house where we had the builder install a 48" Capital Culinarian Self/Clean Range, Model-CGSR484BG for which we paid over $11K. Unfortunately, in a few short days, we managed to break the oven latch and when we called Capital to arrange a fix, we learned our range was built in 2011. This came to us as a shock as we would have expected to get a 2015 range. I've read other threads where you commented that the simmer issues have been resolved in the newer models. Do you know when that fix was put in place? Have there been other major issues that were resolved in the current models? We're trying to get answers from our builder, who has put us in contact with their appliance distributor, but I'd like to get your independent comment if I may, as I'm sure they have an invested interest to convince us our range is identical to later models. The Capital representative also downplayed the years differential. Any feedback you can give us is much appreciated.